


One's Own Memories

by awesomek1998



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Memories, Some minor violence, Unplanned Pregnancy, but then he gets it together, hes kinda a dick in the beginning, i guess, really hes just dumb and gets knocked out, rumple and jefferson bond over being daddies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 03:14:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2213676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awesomek1998/pseuds/awesomek1998
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He panicked.</p>
<p>He’s allowed to panic, okay?</p>
<p>He’s allowed to panic when he was just told something so monumentally life-changing he’s surprised he didn’t immediately pass out.<br/>-<br/>When Jefferson doesn't know what to do, Rumple luckily does. Well, luckily for Stella, but perhaps not luckily for Jefferson who blacks out way too many times for one day. One’s own memories can be a great gift or a terrible curse, after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One's Own Memories

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work in this fandom, and it was only really intended for my friend. I decided to post it though, so feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for reading!

He panicked.  
He’s allowed to panic, okay?  
He’s allowed to panic when he was just told something so monumentally life-changing he’s surprised he didn’t immediately pass out.  
She had said it so abruptly too. No warning. No build up. Just blurted out the biggest news of his life and changed everything.  
So, yeah, he left. He told her he needed to think and left. He watched her face crumble as he walked out the door, leaving her alone and terrified.  
“Leaving so soon?” was the question that pierced his thoughts.  
He turned to see the gold skinned man he called his employer. “Really not the time, Rumplestiltskin. I need-,”  
“To think?” he interrupted, not pausing the spinning wheel for even a moment, despite his gaze being focused on Jefferson as he spoke. “Yes, I heard you yelling it as you ran out the door.” He then turned back to his work, the most somber his employee had ever seen him.  
Jefferson gave a jerky nod and turned away from judgment, throwing on his coat until he heard the wooden wheel screech to a sudden stop. “I know you’re a liar and a thief, but I truly did think you were a better man than that, Jefferson.”  
The sudden exclamation surprised the younger man, obvious by his mouth dropping open and then closing again, before he choked out, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
Rumple shook his head slowly, still not looking at the other man for fear of betraying the emotion his eyes held. He hadn’t shown weakness or vulnerability to anyone since he had lost Bae and he wouldn’t start now, just because a stupid young thief couldn’t own up to his mistakes.  
“You are the one who doesn’t know what you speak of,” was the quiet reply.  
Then, he finally looked up, his eyes back to their usual steel, despite the slight downturn not usually there. “Come here.”  
“Rumplestiltskin, I really need to go,” the younger man insisted somewhat weakly. The other only had to keep his eyes trained on him for another moment before he grumbled out a “fine.”  
He strode to where the wooden spinning wheel was situated, crossing his arms to give the illusion of cockiness and annoyance. His usual stature. Rumplestiltskin knew him better than that, though. The slight tap of his foot gave away his nerves. It was of course fair for him to be nervous. It was not, however, fair to be a complete expletive.  
“One’s own memories can be a great gift or a terrible curse,” the gold skinned man murmured, only half to the man standing opposite him. Although it didn’t seem to warrant a response, he nodded anyway. “For you, dearie, I do hope the memories I bring to the surface will be both.”  
“Wait what do you mean ‘bring to the surface’?” Jefferson demanded, jerking back although he had been burned just by the words.  
Rumple stood swiftly, taking the step that had separated them. The high pitched laugh everyone who knew him well (including Jefferson) had come to hate finally bubbled out from his throat, indicating that he was most definitely up to something. “Why the surface of your mind of course! Perhaps you just require a quick reminder of the girl you just left upstairs! I’ll simply bring up some select memories of the dear beautiful Stella!” He emitted another screechy excuse for a laugh, and before Jefferson could protest or move, a long thin gold finger was pressed to his forehead and everything went black.  
-  
He was pissed off, to say the least.  
Rumplestiltskin just had to have this damn clear ball thing that held no other seeming significance besides being a clear ball thing.  
Jefferson hadn’t even found it yet and he already hated it.  
Why, you may ask? Because just asking someone on the street if they knew where a fucking castle was located (a small one, mind you, not even a large one like Rumplestiltskin’s, where he resided when he wasn’t traveling to find his boss useless things in exchange for gold and a roof over his head) had caused the other man to pull a sword on him and proceed to chase him through the streets of the town and a very shady pub where he had lost his favorite ascot, dammit. He had no mercy on that man once he found a good sword to steal.  
He didn’t exactly pride himself on his intelligence, but he most definitely knew better than to ask another stranger about the Alayana Palace (‘palace, my ass. It’s a large mansion at most, from what I’ve heard of it’) after the incident, so he was of course totally and completely lost and donning a dead man’s neck scarf.  
He paused in his step, hearing a twig snap somewhere in the woods he trudged through. Assuming his company was behind him, he picked up his step, soon breaking into a run and hearing the other do the same, judging by the faster echoing of steps.  
He was barely looking where he was going, only focused on not being caught up to and having to face off again. Although he was a good fighter and now had a weapon to fight with, he still didn’t necessarily want to. Just wasn’t really his thing.  
That’s when he collided with the before-mentioned company that apparently was not behind him. He scrambled for the sword as the caped figure scrambled for a dagger. They had their hood pulled too far over their face for him to see whether they even looked threatening, so that automatically set him even further on edge. At least they were both still on their asses in the dirt, so no one had the upper hand.  
That’s when the figure scrambled to get to their feet, hood falling off in the process and revealing a pretty blonde girl with the most vicious expression Jefferson had ever seen grace someone’s face. He had learned long ago that the prettiest ones were the ones to beware of, so he jumped to his feet as well, holding the sword out more in front of him.  
They both stared each other down for a long moment, weapons outstretched and ice blue eyes clashing with deep green.  
“I’m not looking for a fight, just Alayana Palace,” Jefferson offered, slowly lowering his weapon just a tad to indicate what he was saying was true but also wanting to keep his guard up.  
“Why the hell would you wanna go there?” she demanded, lowering her dagger and slipping it into its sheath in one movement. Jefferson wasn’t sure if she was too trusting or so confident that she knew she could get it back out quickly enough to still win.  
“I don’t see how that would concern you in any way, darling.” Seeing the fire light in her eyes at the name made Jefferson smirk, knowing that he had found a button worth pushing. Hey, he was bored and this was the first interaction he had had in hours. Can you blame him for having a little extra fun?  
“Don’t call me ‘darling’. And it concerns me because it’s my home- ex-home,” she quickly corrected herself.  
Jefferson smirked wider. “You’re the princess of Alayana?” He was near giddy at this point. All he had to do was bring the runaway princess home and he had an instant in. An entire plan was just handed to him on a silver platter, and he couldn’t help but laugh into his hands as the girl across from him just got more and more irritated.  
“Ex-princess,” she hissed. She was too defensive for her own good. It was a good fault for Jefferson to have noticed.  
“Well, Your Highness, how rude of me not to bow. My most sincere apologies,” he remarked, lowering himself into a mock bow and bringing his hand to the sword by his side, ready to drag her through the woods all the way back to her own damn palace just to get this stupid thing back to Rumple.  
“Don’t you dare,” came out the harsh hiss, and then she had a dagger in each hand. “I am not going back there, and you are definitely not using me to get in so you can loot it, you common criminal.”  
“Woah woah woah. First of all, not a common criminal. Actually a pretty extraordinary criminal; thank you very much, darling. Second, no need for the violence. I just need a quick little favor.” Jefferson knew he was horribly manipulative. In general, he could get most things that way. He also knew that he was handsome and was definitely not afraid to use that either.  
“Obviously not that extraordinary if you need to use me just to get in there. And as you can tell by the knives, I’m not really interested in doing a stranger any favors that involve me having to go back to the prison that I just worked so hard to escape.” Her resolve broke for a moment, but then it was right back.  
“Ah, I see,” and he did. No one besides Rumplestiltskin knew that he had also been runaway royalty. It wasn’t exactly something he enjoyed thinking about. He only truly cared about his travels now. His travels and doing what his boss asked to get gold and a room. “Fine. I won’t take you back, but can you at least tell me if I’m going the right way?”  
She snorted, sheathing her daggers. “Obviously, considering I came from that direction, darling.”  
“You know, you may not like the name, but it’s really growing on me,” he drawled, winking somewhat obnoxiously.  
She made a noise of disgust, “Stop it!” She waited a beat before extending her hand. He raised an eyebrow until she blushed slightly and elaborated, “Promise you won’t take me back there.”  
He got a really good look at the pretty blonde across from him then. She was young. A few years younger than him, and he’s only nineteen. She was young and scared and wanting to shake a stranger’s hand so that he wouldn’t take her home. It was sad. So he reached for her hand.  
“I promise,” barely passed his lips before her other hand reached for the tree branch beside her.  
By the time he realized what she was doing she had mumbled a quick, “Just in case,” and swung the branch, making everything go dark again.  
(He remembers she was nowhere to be found when he woke up, but there was his scarf tied around a tree at a fork in the road which he wouldn’t have known to turn down without it.)  
-  
“Oh good, Jefferson! There you are!” Rumplestiltskin greeted as the younger man descended the stairs, tying the ascot around his neck that he had stolen months ago. It was his new favorite.  
“Not exactly a surprise. You know exactly where I am when you have not given me something to do,” came the snarky remark.  
“Then where are you going now considering I haven’t given you an assignment?” came the even snarkier response.  
“Alright alright, fair enough. I was just going to head into town. Maybe have a drink. I’m bored without an assignment.” He jumped over the last couple of steps of the stairwell as if to prove just how bored he was, landing in front of the other man with a thud.  
“Well, lucky for you I have a new,” pause, “let’s call it an assignment.” Rumple’s smirk was much too mischievous for Jefferson to feel comfortable, as he motioned for him to follow into the main room.  
“Ah, and here that assignment is!” He let out his sharp laugh, gesturing towards the hooded figure by the large wooden doors. “Dearie!” he called out, prompting the figure to drop their hood and reveal their face.  
“No way,” Jefferson gritted out as the girl only smirked in reply. “There is no possible way.”  
“Oh, but there is, darling. How’s your head?” Jefferson didn’t think he had ever seen a smirk so wide on anyone but himself and perhaps Rumple.  
“Fine now, no thanks to you,” he seethed.  
“Do you two know each other?” the previously silent other man asked, reminding Jefferson that he was there.  
Forgetting he was there did not in any way have to do with the fact that Jefferson had completely forgotten how beautiful the blonde girl way or that he had thought about her intermittently since their meeting months ago. No. She was insufferable. Not at all distractingly gorgeous.  
“Unfortunately, yes we have met. She ambushed me.” Jefferson knew he looked childish with his arms crossed, but he didn’t care. She whacked him in the head with a damn branch. It was a low blow. Or a high blow maybe since she hit him in the head.  
“I hardly call you having your guard down when you shouldn’t have and letting me knock you out with a tree branch being ambushed.” She at least had the decency to keep her laugh in. Rumple did not.  
“Just tell me whatever my assignment is so I can be done with her.” He only looked even more childish tapping his foot impatiently.  
“Oh, why don’t be rude to our guest, Jefferson!” The man waved a golden hand in his general direction before moving (rather quickly) to stand beside the girl. “Besides, that’s the assignment. You don’t get to ‘be done with her’.” Jefferson looked somehow confused and mildly horrified at the same time. “I figured you could use some assistance, so think of her as your new partner. Your assignment is to train her to keep up. Have fun!” With that, he disappeared into a cloud of hideously colored smoke, but not before pushing the girl slightly forward into her new partner.  
“Dammit Rumple!” he shouted at the now unoccupied place where he had stood, nearly not catching the girl, and therefore, himself.  
“I’m sorry,” she murmured quietly.  
“Not really your fault unless you came here asking to be paired up with me, which I really hope you didn’t do,” Jefferson mumbled back. He knew he was partially lying to himself. He definitely would not mind her wanting him- wanting to spend time with him.  
“No, no I most definitely did not.” Ouch. No, wait she’s a bitch. She knocked him over the head with a branch while he was distracted. “Rumplestiltskin saw me doing magic in town and offered me a job. So of course I had to take it.”  
He couldn’t avoid the concern that flooded through him, despite not even knowing the girl’s name. “You ran away months ago. What have you been doing since then?”  
She was thankful he didn’t ask about her using magic.  
“I’ve been selling and trading the things I took with me, but thank goodness he found me now. I only have a couple things left. A few pieces of jewelry and most of my clothes.”  
Jefferson nodded, “I did the same when I left. When I started working for Rumple, I only had my hat left.”  
“A hat? Doesn’t exactly sound like something you should save out of everything else,” she remarked, almost cautiously. She didn’t exactly know how to respond to him basically revealing he was in the same situation as her before.  
He chuckled lightly. “It’s a magic hat. I mean besides being magically stylish, it can also take you to any magical realm or any specific place within any magical realm.” He felt pride swell in his chest when she laughed too.  
He realized then, looking down at himself (not to avoid her sharp emerald gaze) that he had just dressed to go out, so an idea occurred to him. “Well then, if I am to train you, let’s get started!” He brought his hands together in a small mock clap.  
“Now?” Her tone of confusion was fair.  
“No time like the present!” He gave her a chipper grin and wink, striding over to where his coat hung on the hook by the door.  
“We don’t even know each other’s names,” she protested, now the childish-looking one.  
“Jefferson,” he offered, shrugging on the coat and somehow opening the gigantic wooden doors. When he was met with silence, he turned back to look at the still-unnamed girl before him. She had a strange expression on her face, and for a brief moment, he wondered if he’d said something wrong, despite that being irrational. He decided to break the silence yet again. “You know, in normal human interaction, this is usually the point in the conversation when the other person tells the first person their name.”  
“Oh, right um sorry.” Then she spoke the name that he would never be able to forget no matter how hard he tried. “Stella.”  
He tried the word in his own mouth, coming out so much harsher of a whisper than originally intended.  
When she did the same, “Jefferson,” leaving her lips, he knew that he would rather only hear her and no one else ever mutter his name again. It was right. It was weird. But it was right.  
And so, he offered her his arm, which she hesitantly took, and they walked into the dark night together. The first of many many nights (and days of course) spent together.  
-  
“Ah you two are alive!” Rumplestiltskin exclaimed as Jefferson and Stella walked through the large wooden doors. He barely glanced up from his wheel, continuing his hum as if he hadn’t interrupted himself at all.  
“Yes, that’s a word to describe our current condition,” Jefferson mumbled in reply, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes and smudging some of the soot on his face at the same time.  
Stella simply made a muffled noise into Jefferson’s shoulder where they leaned together for fear of falling without each other.  
“Oh and look at that! You two are getting along now! Not fighting like when you left. How nice.” Rumple grinned at the two, his eyes sparkling like they did when he knew something no one else did.  
“Yeah near-death experiences can do that,” the blonde (blonde is used loosely, as there’s currently so much soot covering her and with the added darkness of the water, her hair was nearly as dark as the man beside her’s) mumbled, finally trying to stand on her own and stumbling, her partner’s hands shooting out to steady her and setting him slightly off balance. They both blinked, steadying themselves so that they could stand on their own.  
“Did you get what I asked though?” their boss asked, his voice light but tone demanding.  
“Of course,” the other man grumbled, reaching into the satchel at his side and pulling out the black cloth wrapped package and tossing it onto the long table down the middle of the room. “We always do.”  
Rumple let out his shrill laugh, clapping and walking to the table. He unwrapped the package, only peaking at what was within but smiling widely nonetheless. “Good work, children.” Then he snapped and the soot quite literally melted off of them, their hair and clothing somehow drying simultaneously. “That’s a little bonus since you almost died so many times this week. But take the gold you see fit as well as usual.” With the package in hand, he disappeared in smoke.  
“I’m going up to my room now. I’m exhausted,” Jefferson murmured, shedding his coat and throwing it onto the hook. Stella followed suit, also following him up the stairs and down the long hall full of rooms. As usual, she wondered idly why there were so many rooms here. No one besides the three of them lived there, and she hadn’t lived there long and Jefferson had only been there a couple of years before her. She wondered if Rumple ever lived with anyone else.  
He opened his own bedroom door, leaving the door open behind him for her to close behind herself. He disappeared into the adjoining bathroom, hanging the scarf around his neck around the others on the hook by the vanity. “Why the hell are you always in here?” he called. It was curious yet demanding.  
She had collapsed onto his bed, her now-blond-again hair fanning out. “Where else do I have to be?”  
Her partner rolled his eyes, leaning against the doorframe. “Your own room across the hall.”  
She smirked at him. “But there’s no one to argue with over there.”  
He thought, not for the first time since they had met, that Stella was absolutely breathtaking. Infuriating. Argumentative. But so much more. Smart. Witty. Quite great at what they did. And of course, gorgeous.  
He pushed himself off the door frame, walking to the front of the bed, her eyes following him as he did so. Then, he flung himself down on top of the younger, prompting her to squeal and thrash.  
“Get off me, you asshole,” she grumbled out. He was completely dead weight on top of her, no matter how hard she pushed, so she eventually just gave up and laid there as he laughed at her feeble attempts.  
“This is what you get for always being in here,” he replied, having to pull his face out of her shoulder and bringing his face in front of hers to be heard.  
“Shut up,” she mumbled, shoving at his shoulder lightly. She hadn’t realized until then how close their faces were.  
Neither had he.  
There was silence for a moment as they both took in their positions.  
“This is kinda awkward, huh?” he whispered under his breath. He didn’t make any move to roll off though.  
“The only thing that’ll make this awkward is if you don’t kiss me,” she whispered back.  
So he did. And she kissed back. And they kept kissing and kissing and then they were moving up the bed.  
And then Jefferson blacked out for the fourth time.  
-  
“Ah, there you go, dearie. Don’t collapse. I know it can be a bit much,” Rumple was muttering as Jefferson came to.  
“What the hell did you just do?” he choked out in reply, only really being held up by the other man’s hands on his shoulders.  
“Exactly what I told you I was going to do. I brought up your memories of Stella. Well the important ones anyway,” the older man remarked as if it was obvious and he did those things all the time.  
“But- but why?” In all of the years he had known Rumple, he had never concerned himself much with the concerns of others, save when they were paying him in some way, shape, or form, so it was highly irregular for him to get into Jefferson and Stella’s relationship or lack thereof.  
A sigh and a head shake met him. Then he finally spat out what he was hoping he wouldn’t have to, “I had a child once, a son, and I abandoned him. I will not allow another child to be fatherless if I can help it.”  
Understanding dawned on Jefferson’s face. “That’s why you want to find a way to the land without magic. That’s where your son is.” He hesitated a moment before continuing. “This is different.”  
“Is it really?” This was the most serious he had ever seen his boss about any subject, no hint of a smile on his face. “I was scared to be a good father. So are you. I left my child scared and alone. You left the girl you love scared and alone with a baby- your baby. Bae needed me, and I wasn’t there for him. You need to be there for Stella and your daughter.”  
“Wait,” Jefferson murmured, blinking his watery eyes, “daughter?”  
“Yes. Stella is going to have a girl. I saw her. That’s how I knew that she was pregnant.” The reply was short and clipped, almost pained. It was easy to understand that he was in pain after talking about his son, though. Jefferson was in pain talking about his daughter that hadn’t even been born yet.  
His daughter. He was gonna be a dad. He was gonna have a daughter with Stella.  
“I gotta- I gotta go talk to her.” He nearly broke into a jog to the stairwell.  
“Jefferson!” the older man called, stopping his younger counterpart. He made a small wave motion with his hand, making a small band appear in his hand. He tossed it to the other, revealing to his that it was platinum with a large dark stone in the center and smaller ice blue ones on either side of it.  
“While I’m oddly flattered,” he began, only to be cut off.  
“For Stella!” He rolled his eyes before making a shooing motion. “Now go kiss and make up.”  
Jefferson gave a mock salute before heading back up the stairs and walking quickly down the hall towards his own room, only to be stopped by the sound of sobbing coming from within the door of the girl he loved.  
He cursed quietly under his breath, debating whether he should knock first or just walk straight in, deciding on the latter.  
The only thing he could see peaking out the top of the deep red comforter was her golden hair fanned across her pillow. He could also see her shaking though. And he swore the sight shattered his heart.  
“Stella,” he whispered, not wanting to disturb her, but knowing they needed to talk.  
“Go away, Jefferson,” she croaked out, her voice raw from crying for however long he had been gone.  
“I can’t.”  
“And why not?” she demanded, sitting up and throwing the blankets away from her but bringing her legs up to her chest in almost a protective way.  
“Because I love you,” escaped his mouth before he could stop it.  
Her mouth dropped open, closing and then opening again. “But- but- then why would you leave?” She sounded so small, reminding Jefferson how young she was. Reminding him how young he was. They were both so young. He didn’t know how they would ever know how to raise a baby. But he was never leaving her again.  
“I’m scared.” It sounded like such an awful excuse when he said it out loud.  
She laughed. A long hard sarcastic sound. “You think I’m not terrified? You think I didn’t wanna throw up when Rumplestiltskin told me he could sense the baby? You think I don’t still wanna throw up? You can leave! I can’t! I can’t do anything but accept it!” She folded in on herself more.  
“I know.” It was barely a whisper.  
“You know? Do you really?” She let out another laugh, this one shorter and sadder than the last.  
“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry that I left, but I love you and I promise I’ll never do it again! And I wanna marry you! Okay?” The tear tracks down his face now matched hers.  
“What?” All of the anger left her eyes for the first time since he had walked in.  
“Marry me.” He held out his open palm with the ring glinting in it. He hadn’t realized until now just how nervous he was, but now with his hand out, he could see how badly he shook.  
“And why should I?” she asked, the mischievous glint he had become well acquainted with but hadn’t seen all day in her eyes.  
He tried to hold in his laugh, but her slowly forming smirk did not make it very easy. “Well,” he began, striding towards her slowly, “I have a pretty good job.”  
“Oh yeah? Good income?” He nodded in reply, his eyes crinkling up from smiling so wide. “Better than mine?” she asked then.  
“I don’t know. Maybe I could take you out and we’ll compare,” he offered, a smirk replacing the happy smile. He had reached the bed by now and sat down then.  
“You know, I’m a little confused now. Are you asking me on a date or asking me to marry you?” she asked, scooting down the bed to sit by him then. She leaned her head against his shoulder, pointing her face towards his and smiling lightly.  
“Both,” he said quietly, leaning down just enough to press his mouth against hers gently and grabbing her left hand in his and sliding the ring onto her finger. He pulled away to press a kiss there.  
He stood from the bed, and he saw the look of panic in her eyes that squeezed his heart. “I’m not going anywhere, darling.”  
Then he knelt by the bed, looking up at the gorgeous blonde above him before flicking his eyes down to her stomach. “My daughter is in there,” he murmured to himself, completely in awe.  
Stella nodded, blushing a light pink. “Yeah, yeah she is.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “Rumple saw her. He said she’ll be beautiful and smart. My hair and your wit. Brown eyes though, so that’s neither of us.”  
He nodded, turning his head thoughtfully. “My mother had brown eyes. I got my father’s.”  
“Pity I never got to meet either of them. What were they like?” It only occurred to her then that she had never heard much about his family. She knew that he had been born a prince and ran away when he was sixteen, but that was really the furthest extent.  
“Well, to be quite honest, I never really knew my father very well. He wasn’t around much, as he had a kingdom to run. But my mother was the kindest, gentlest woman I’ve ever known. Selfless too. Not really sure how I ended up like this.” He chuckled sadly.  
“She sounds wonderful,” she said quietly, wiping away the new tears running down his face. “What was her name?”  
He smiled, a small, quick stretching of his lips. “Grace.”  
“Pretty name.”  
He made a sound of agreement then, pressing his lips to her stomach. To Grace, as they had both (unknowingly to the other) already began to call her.  
Grace.  
They’d figure this out for her.

h


End file.
